On the schedule that is posted for NTK it shows that the 17th and the 18th of May a race will bill held at OMC, not Katy, and on the 28th and 29th the race will be at Iron Rock in Austin. I am confused because your link shows races on May 17th and 18th as being in Katy and the 28th and 29th of June as being at OMC.

I believe the minimum weight as posted is now 265lbs. for minimax. I don't mind one bit if we are going with 255lbs. as I wont have to add any weight to the kart.

I have 6 sets of Mojo D2's already purchased. I noticed that in your note we MUST purchase the tires from KAM. Is that rule hard and fast?

Finally, does our passport need to have the company STAMP that sealed the engine? This was required for the RMax challenge last year...I think.

On another note...So am I correct that those THREE weekends are the ONLY races and opportunities any of our kids have to qualify? Six races sure...but over three WEEKENDS. Miss one weekend.. and you miss two races...thanks for playing...good bye.

Also...how many spots are there available? It just seems there was a lot more information and communication last year.

I'm still new to all of this...but this is a HUGE change from last year when there were at least 5-6 opportunties at NTK alone. Do we in North Texas not have any stroke whatsoever? If we are now going to HAVE to travel to Hou..., et al.... What is the benefit of running the KAM as my home series?

Between this and the scheduling fiasco for Nationals....this is not making it look very appealing at all. Especially for anyone of us with the younger kids who are trying to learn it all and make a go of this. Maybe a little help from the local powers that be?

Ken - SWRC has made changes to their schedule - I will double check but those were the venues that I was given yesterday. As for the tire rule - Yes you must buy them from KAM. We don't make any money on the Rmax challenge (the track(s) do) so it's only fair that our local racers buy their tires from us anyway. KAM Karting Supply has not only supported NTK for over 12 years, we have sponsored and put on the local RMax Challenge for 6 years spending countless hours fighting for the things that the racers want, talking to and explaining items to the racers, scheduling, etc. If the ROTAX rules say that you must run MoJo's (their rule not ours) why not buy them from us anyway....... Regarding your motorâ€¦yes it has to be stamped (not written in) per Rotax rules to qualify.

Bradley,
I couldn't agree with you more on the fiasco that ROTAX has created. This is a point of contention that I've had to fight almost every year since we've been promoting Rmax Challenges. But because of this scheduling conflict I wouldn't worry too much about missing a local challenge race as far as your child being eligible for the Grand Nationals! I'm sure that anyone who wishes to go that has approval from their local series will get to go this year.

Also the racers wanted to travel to the best tracks in the area for their challenge and it was unanimous to run the challenge with the SWRC series. They (SWRC) make the schedule and set the rates.

Bradley Richardson wrote:Also...how many spots are there available? It just seems there was a lot more information and communication last year.

Just an FYI here - the reason it may have seemed like there was more information and communication last year was due to all the controversy over the allocations. There has been no mention of allocations this year. Further, Joe Ramos, Jr. was in charge of the RMax Challenge program and he was great at dealer communications and making efficient business decisions regarding the program. Unfortunately we no longer have him to rely on as he has left SSC to pursue other career opportunities.

Kelly,
Our thanks to you and KAM Karting for supporting NTK and the ROTAX series.
We look forward to racing at Norman (one of the best kart tracks in the US ) and Katy. Racers will learn alot racing and tuning on these tracks.

New for 2008 there is one series, 5 weekends (two races per weekend). Right now the first 3 weekends (6 races) will be Rotax Challenge races.

We will have to check with them to see if Mini Maxers (and other Rotax classes) that run the Challenge series and the last 2 weekends will qualify for a SWRC series championship. I don't know the answer to that. I will see if I can find out.

For mini-max, you have "Spec gear optional at Race Director's discretion."

Can we get a statement ahead of time if/what the spec will be for each track?

Personally I want to see the Grand National spec (13 x 82) everywhere.

I spoke with the RMax tech folks several times before the last NTK rules meeting and they made it clear the 'at Race Director's discression' is intended for those real tight tracks where 13x82 will bog the engine. I don't see that any of the track in this series have that problem. If we were racing at Waco it would be another story.

If gearing is open we will probably skip OMC. I'm not ready for Chris to be in a race situation at those speeds.